I have not been able to install Debiain 9 to 9.4 via a live image. I never get anywhere with the install, just the live boot choices are shown. Nothing happens after this. Debian 7 and 8 have been problem free. I am able to do an install with a non live DVD or usb drive. I have no problems with installing other live distros, just Debian.

Would appreciate you input here. I have lost confidence in Debian due to this.

The live versions have had a few issues and although I usually use the Live-Cd images for my installations I have changed to using the netinst for Debian installations now, and providing you can get a network connection everything works great. I still use the Live-Cd's but just to test the machine to ensure good compatibility (as much as possible before installation), I would hope the maintainers re-introduce this as it does make it much easier for me but it's not a deal breaker as there are many choices when it comes to installation.

Wheelerof4te wrote:Live images for trying out the distro, install images for installing the distro.

Yes it has become that, but prior to stretch going stable it has been possible to install from the Live-Cd versions which meant I could check the system would run, and if so perform the install all from the same iso, now I have to use two... not a big deal in the grand scheme of things but it did make it easier (for me at least).

Meowbay wrote:Not just that, after you've succeeded in installing, apt breaks down on you! I've never seen such flaky untested stuff being released as stable in a linux distro, from debian no less.

You didn't install you upgraded which personally I never recommend to anyone as it often leads to problems and not just with Debian but with a lot of distros, I always recommend to install afresh when changing your version of Linux as I have never (or maybe I should say rarely) had issues with fresh installations.

I consider Stretch to be stable enough at time of installation and it is usually (going from posts on this forum) what the user does after the install that makes it unstable.

I'm not saying there are no issues with the installation process as anyone who needs proprietary firmware would likely agree, but there is always a way to get around it and all my installations are running without issue.